My father was killed during the Second World War, in 1945 on Guam in the Pacific. He died a hero. They landed on the beachhead and he went back a number of times, even though he was wounded, to save the men under his command. It practically destroyed my mother when he was killed. She terribly resented the military for taking him. That’s the image of war and the military I grew up with and because of that I had a very personal involvement against war and against suffering.
When I went for my Navy physical I wore a peace necklace and I remember the doctor asking me why I was wearing it. I said, “Because I’m against war.” The recruiter told me if I were ever in Vietnam and there was a Vietnamese soldier who needed to be taken care of, I could take care of that person. So there was not supposed to be any problem being against war. My rationalization for going into the Navy was to undo the damage the United States was doing abroad. These young kids were sent overseas and shot up; they needed good care, and that’s what I was going to do. But there was a point at which it was obvious that I had to do something about the war, that I was no longer patching up people to feel better, but that I was promoting the war machine.
In 1968 I heard about the GI and Veterans March for Peace in San Francisco for October 12th. I went to the meetings, and got posters and leaflets and put them up on base at the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, where I was stationed. We put posters up in the middle of the night and within an hour they were all down. I remembered hearing about B-52 bombers dropping leaflets on the Vietnamese, urging them to defect. I thought if the United States can do that in Vietnam, then why can’t I do it here. A Vietnam vet, a friend who was a pilot, my husband, and I loaded up the airplane with those leaflets promoting the peace march.
We loaded up the plane and the press was called to expect us over various areas in the San Francisco Bay area. We made a couple of trial runs; one didn’t turn out so well. At a couple of thousand feet up, we opened the door of the airplane to let the leaflets out and the plane dropped about a thousand feet! So we reloaded the plane and went back. We hit the Presidio, Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, Treasure Island, Yerba Buena Island, the deck of the USS Enterprise. Then we landed and held a press conference and I said, “I did it.” The press asked me to go back in the airplane and get out again, so they’d have good footage. And they did an interview. The military used all of the footage at my court martial — evidence I really was guilty.
That was Thursday and the March for Peace was on Saturday. I wore my uniform in the demonstration that I was told specifically not to do. A general Navy regulation stated you can’t wear your uniform when you’re speaking religious, partisan, political views publicly. I thought, if General Westmoreland can wear his uniform before Congress asking for money for Vietnam, I can wear mine as a member of the Armed Forces speaking out against the war. I had as much right to freedom of speech as he does. I gave a speech and I knew when I got up to the microphones, one of these belongs to the Navy. But it didn’t make any difference.
Podcasts
No posts